Wild Little Thief
by Insanity's Servant
Summary: Wild Little Thief is a one-shot that follows the Dragonborn, a female Redguard thief through immense pain and suffering. Rated T for gore and violence.


The heavy door creaked open, groaning painfully as it scraped over the exposed stone. A thin cloud of ash escaped, vanishing instantly into the pouring rain. Tamara stumbled out the door, hyperventilating. The rain soaked through her cowl in an instant, but her armor kept the rest of her body dry. Tamara coughed, her lungs squeezing up in her chest. She gasped, trying to steady her breathing. Her smoke-filled lungs protested every breath, stinging viciously.

Think it through, she told herself. Slow down.

Tamara took a deep, shuddering breath. Scraps of the last day flew past her eyes.

Commander Maro's triumphant smirk; the line of guards she was forced to cut down in her escape; trees, blurred by speed and disbelief. Smoke. Fire. The burned, twisted, mutilated, bloody corpses of her friends. Choking on the smoke; stumbling along with Nazir; burning pain in every inch of exposed skin. Finally, Astrid's horrible, blackened body, choking out her final words.

Tamara lurched over to a boulder and leaned against it, retching bile. She began to hyperventilate again, once nothing more escaped her rebelling stomach. Holding it together in front of Nazir had nearly been too much.

Her friends had _died_. They had been betrayed... slaughtered in the one place they had thought safe. Astrid... Tamara stood up straight, wiping soot, blood, and bile from her face.

Astrid was the betrayer: she was the one who had sent her to die.

But Astrid was, well, Astrid. Like a bossy, extremely protective and caring older sister.

Tamara looked down at the dagger she still clung to in her right hand. Blood dripped slowly off it's curved blade. Astrid's blood... what little had remained in her body after the explosion.

Tamara shuddered and dropped it. She was empty, defeated. Every muscle and bone screamed for mercy, and her skin still stung even with the cool rain beating down on it. The betrayal and deaths hurt the worst though.

_"Didn't expect you to get messed up with the Brotherhood," Delvin Mallory's gruff voice said as she explained her long absence. "Won't bring you any good, lass." His disappointment was palpable._

_ "It's bringing me gold."_

_ Delvin huffed and turned the jeweled amulet she had brought him over in his palm. "Can't argue with that," he muttered. "Now get going with that letter. Astrid doesn't like to be kept waiting."_

Another, more recent conversation brought Tamara's turmoil to a halt.

_"Kill the true emperor... The contract must be fulfilled..."_

The Night Mother's voice grated across Tamara's nerves, sending irrepressible shivers across her body and yet soothing her mind.

She had a purpose.

But she could never return to Nazir.

Tamara took one last look at the door before slowly making her way into the forest to retrieve Shadowmere. With every step, a new corpse flashed in her mind's eye. They had taken her in with little reluctance, claiming her as family with a fireness not even the Guild could claim.

A family that had been betrayed by its own mother.

"No!" Tamara shouted to the rain. She couldn't accept Astrid as the cause. Commander Maro had betrayed Astrid: Astrid had not been at fault. He must die. He must die.

Tamara rode hard over the road she had traveled just hours before, whipping Shadowmere into a lather. Tears streamed down her face, melting into the raindrops that lashed her cheeks. Her soul-draining pain had taken form: revenge. It was her only thought, and it turned her heart to lead in the cavernous hole of her chest.

Kill Commander Maro.

Kill the Emperor.

Kill, kill, kill.

_"One rule you need to know, lass." Delvin tipped his chair back, looking up at her the black eyes snapping with intelligence. "We don't kill. Not our way. Get the job done clean, or not at all, understand?"_

_ The Tamara of a year ago nodded, certain such a promise would be easily kept._

Kill them all.

It was not cold fury that drove Tamara north, back to Solitude. Revenge was often associated with a sort of single-minded coldness, but oh no.

White-hot, passionate _rage_ boiled Tamara's blood. Her family had been slaughtered for one man's ego, because of one woman's mistake. The rage put fire in her eyes, burning away the brokenness, loneliness, and sorrow, leaving only desire behind. Blood for blood.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Tamara knew that her Redguard heritage was taking over. She had no plan; no goal but murder. She was probably going to die, and she didn't care.

_You're going berserker._

The rage carried her through the night, and at dawn, she reached the docks. Tamara dismounted on a hillock above the port, looking down on the shops. Even from the distance, she could see Commander Maro's arrogant form watching the Emperor's boat sail away.

"Go," she told Shadowmere softly. "Go on, now."

The giant black horse nudged her shoulder and snorted. Tamara was about to repeat the command when he turned and trotted off.

Tamara reached for the Blade of Woe, only to remember she had left it at the Sanctuary.

"Would have been fitting," she muttered, reaching for her bow. But then she hesitated and unsheathed Dragonbane. Magic sparked and snapped along its fine blade as it came to life in her hands. Tamara grinned wickedly. Yes, this would do. Commander Maro should know who killed him

People scattered out of her way as she marched down the docks, staring at her sword and fitted black armor. There was no mistaking the rage in her eyes.

"Guards!" someone called.

Tamara turned onto the last stretch of planking, preparing a fire spell in her other hand.

"It's her!" a guard shouted. "The assassin!"

A new dart of pain lanced Tamara's heart. The assassin?

_"My wild little thief." Delvin grinned and ruffled her hair._

Commander Maro turned at the last cry. He blanched, fear wiping out his arrogance in a heart-beat. He began to stutter something, but Tamara was in no mood for talking.

She raised a hand and sent him flying with a fiery explosion. The screams started as Tamara ran to his body and heaved him to his feet. She gazed at his scorched face for a moment before slipping her sword though a gap in his armor and jamming it up to the hilt. What little life remained in his eyes died out.

The pounding footsteps gave her just enough warning to slide her blade free and meet her attacker with a vicious snarl. A guard's heavy axe clanged into Dragonbane. Tamara blasted him in the chest with another fire spell, giving herself a second to breathe before decapitating the next guard. Her magicka now drained, Tamara sliced another guard from chin to navel and kicked him into the bay.

_Kill the Emperor,_ the Night Mother's voice whispered.

Without hesitation, Tamara sheathed her sword, ducked under another axe swing, and dived in after the guard. As she swarm toward the ship, arrows hissed into the water around her. One sliced her shoulder, and another pricked the back of her calf. Tamara swam on. She truly had no other thought now than her purpose: kill. The world seemed clouded with red as she hauled herself into the cargo bay. The two sailors there didn't have a chance to question her presence before they were dead.

Tamara's world became a blur of blood and screams as she cut her way through the ship, killing sailors and Penitus Oculatus indiscriminately.

A single moment of clarity shone through the bloodbath. Tamara found her sword locked with the Lieutenant's, staring into his eyes as they strove against each other. His eyes looked like Delvin's.

_"Brynjolf's little protege, bringin' in the wealth!" He clapped her on the back. "My new favorite family member! Sorry, Vex." Delvin tripped his head in the Imperial's direction._

With a wordless scream, Tamara pushed the Lieutenant away. As he stumbled and tried to save himself from falling down a flight of steps, words lept unbidden to her lips.

"_Yol toor shul_!" she shouted.

An inferno engulfed the hallway, setting the wood alight immediately. Tamara stumbled backwards, raising an arm to block her face from the heat. Images from the Sanctuary flooded her vision for a moment, bringing all her fear and pain rushing back. She gasped for breath, suddenly aware of how exhausted she was. As the ship began to burn, Tamara hurried to the Emperor's chamber's quickly picking the lock with the Skeleton Key and bursting inside. The Emperor looked up from his desk and regarded her calmly. The door swung shut behind her, sealing off the sound of crackling flames and burning sailors. Utter silence reigned for several seconds.

"You're not the kind of assassin I expected," he said, rising and standing to the side of his desk. His heavy robes swept the floor as he moved, and a gold necklace clinked on his chest.

"What were you expecting," Tamara snarled, brandishing her sword.

"Someone who looked at least partially sane," he replied, still infuriatingly calm.

Tamara glanced down and considered herself for a moment. All the soot had been washed off, but she dripped equal parts blood and seawater onto his expensive carpets. Her own blood, from countless nicks and the arrow slice, decorated her black-enameled armor with ribbons of bright red.

She looked back up at him, frowning.

"I won't take it personally, you know," he said before she could retort. "Sane, insane, I will die either way. It's destiny, you know. But before you kill me, would you grant an old man his dying request?" The Emperor spread his arms, looking for all the world like a grandfather inviting beloved children into his embrace.

Tamara's frown deepened, but she lowered her sword a hair. 'Go on, I'm listening." Every expectation she had had for him was shattered. Only now was she beginning to recover from the shock of his acceptance.

"It's quite simple, really," he smiled softly. "Kill the one who wants me dead."

He turned and faced a window, clasping his hands behind his back.

Tamara stepped up behind him, slowly bringing her blade around to his throat. Why was he so accepting of death?

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

He turned a little to look her in the eye. "It's alright. You're just doing your job." He looked away. Tamara hesitated a second longer before slitting his throat.

* * *

She stood there for a minute while his blood soaked into the carpet, staring out the window as he had. So much blood and death. Tamara didn't have the energy left to feel remorseful. Perhaps later.

The cabin began to heat up, and instinct kicked in. She raided his rooms for any valuables, stuffing as much as she could into her bag. Once it was full, she stood in the middle of the room.

Kill the man who wanted the Emperor dead.

"I will," Tamara whispered to his body. She pulled off her Dark Brothergood cowl and tossed it aside. "But not as an assassin. As a friend."

She nodded to him and stepped out onto the deck. The ship was listing now as the fire raged. It was dusk, and the cry of seagulls nearly covered up the sound of flames. Tamara took a deep breath of the salty air and smiled. There were no more contracts to fill – just a favor. A little tiny part of her filled up again. She took another deep breath and dived over the railing, swimming through the now-freezing water towards shore. No berserker rage to keep her warm this time. The cold embraced and invigorated her, washing off the blood.

Once on land, Tamara sat down on the beach and sorted through her belongings, tossing everything that reminded her of the Brotherhood into the sea. Occasionally, she paused to watch the ship burn and sink, the only light in the darkness. She was left with almost nothing beyond her armor, weapons, a little food, and what she had taken from the Emperor. Finally, at the bottom of her bag, Tamara found her Nightingale hood, almost forgotten in the recent storm of her life. Fondly, she pulled it over her head, feeling as though she had been reunited with an old friend. While the Brotherhood cowl had always smelled of copper and must, the hood smelled of sweet candle smoke and nighttime forests. With her armor complete once more, Tamara gazed out over the sea, watching the last bits of fire wink out. Nothing more remained.

* * *

Tamara went through the next two weeks in a kind of numb haze. She wandered in the wilderness north of Solitude until Shadowmere found her. Then they traveled to Whiterun, where she quietly killed Amaund Motierre after learning where he had stashed the payment. Tamara retrieved it and then, finally, turned Shadowmere toward Riften.

* * *

The chatter of the Ragged Flagon fell silent. Tamara looked around at the familiar faces, pressure welling up inside her chest. Even under the amazed scrutiny of a dozen pairs of eyes, this place felt more like home than the Sanctuary ever had.

At the table nearest to her, Delvin thumped down his mug of ale and turned to see what everyone was staring at. Confusion swept across his scarred features.

"Lass?"

"Hello." Tamara managed a little smile.

"You're back?"

"For good."

Delvin's familiar grin lit up his face, and he jumped up, pulled her into a crushing hug. At his touch, Tamara's leaden heart melted. The emptiness that had been consuming her was filled in a torrent of pure love and acceptance.

"Always knew you'd be back, lass."

The words sent her into hysterics, but Delvin didn't seem to mind her bawling on his shoulder. He just held her, occasionally chuckling, "I knew you'd be back" or murmuring, "It's alright now." At last, when her tears had stopped, they broke apart.

"So, anyone I need to kill and avenge my wild little thief?" he asked.

"No!" Tamara said quickly. She sniffed, wiped away her tears and smiled. "No killing... no more..."

* * *

**Thank you for reading this new short story! It's been a long time since I've put one up, and I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave a review telling me what you thought!**

**Sidenote: If any of you are fans of Case Red, I'm sorry but this does not mean the hiatus is over. I just had a burst of inspiration.**


End file.
